72 hours
by Joy Booth
Summary: The story is out but how will everyone react?


It came out. Deep down she always knew it would. Her worst secret, the one that not even Amelia knew. Other than hospital staff, the only people who knew were her, her mom and Will. And then one day she woke up and everyone knew.

She woke up that morning just like any other. Her phone buzzed. She slipped out of bed, rolled her shoulders and looked out on Petco. The field was as green as she had ever seen it. The sky was blue, not a hit of what was to come. She threw on her gym clothes and pulled her hair up, adding a cap and her headphones.

She opened the door and that was where things changed.

"Sorry Miss Baker, Ms. Slater has asked that you stay in your room until she gets here," the security guard announced, his face devoid of any emotion.

"Uh, ok," she mumbled backing into her room and slumping onto the couch. She flipped on the tv and there was her picture. She turned up the volume.

"We all know Ginny Baker was the biggest story in baseball this year, but what few know is that the young pitcher has a history of mental illness which resulted in her being held in a psychiatric ward."

She turned off the tv. She already knew the rest. Her career was over. Amelia was going to be livid. She got up from the couch and walked back toward the bed, pulling the little screen closed that separated the room. She walked past the bed and looked out the window at Petco. Everything was suddenly different. The sun was too bright. The grass was too green. Everything looked artificially cheerful, like it was setting her up for the world's cruelest joke.

She had made it. She had gotten to the majors. She had played almost a whole season. The were just a few games away from playoffs, and then this happened.

She went into the bathroom shut and locked the door. Then she stepped into the shower and leaned against the cool tile. Finally sliding to the ground. She thought she would cry. When she had dreams about the story getting out, she always cried, but her eyes were dry. She felt noting except the cold tile at her back.

She had no idea how long she sat there before she heard a knock at the bathroom door. "Hey Ginny, it's me. You want to come out so we can talk about this?"

She heard Amelia, but she couldn't find it in her to answer. She just sat there staring at her distorted reflection in the glass of the shower door.

"Gin, you need to open the door. We don't have to talk about it right now, but I need to know you're safe."

Ginny's eyes were completely focused on her reflection, but her mind was a a drift. She could see her dad. That look he gave her when she threw a perfect pitch. He used to look at her like she was the most important thing in the world. Then the memory changed. There was the fight about the dress. 'You gotta chose…' They were his old truck driving to practices, and camps and games. He was there to drive her only friend home at night. He was there for everything and then in an instant, he was gone.

She didn't even flinch when the door was kicked in. She didn't look up. She didn't move. Amelia didn't know what to expect, but finding her most important client complete catatonic wasn't it. She opened the shower door and Ginny looked up.

"Are you alright?" Amelia asked, crouching down to her level. Ginny looked so young her head tilted to the side like she had no idea how her agent had come to be in her shower.

"Uh… yeah, I mean yes. I'm fine. How are you?" Her eyes were clear and she started to stand up. "I know I should have told you, but medical records are supposed to be confidential so I, you know, I just hoped no one would ever find out."

"I know, Gin and we are going to sure the hell out of whoever leaked this, but what the hell happened?"

"I don't really want to… Can I go, to the gym, or something. I want to go to the gym. Can I just have like an hour to clear my head?" She asked. Amelia was shocked. Ginny life was crumbling around her, but somehow, she got up. All she wanted was to keep moving. Amelia understood that. Maybe that was why she had been so drawn to Ginny from the beginning. They were both survivors.

"I don't think leaving the building is a great idea. There is a lot of press downstairs. They are going to want you to make a statement."

Ginny's shoulders slumped. "Could you just write something really fast? I'll read it, then jump in the car and go." She looked so hopeful that Amelia couldn't refuse.

"Give me 5 minutes, is there anything in particular you want me to put in?"

Ginny shook her head. Five minutes later, she mechanically read her statement in front of the assembled crowd. Some shouted questions when she was done, but she completely ignored them.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Amelia asked, when they pulled up.

"No," Ginny shrugged.

"Ok, well, I'm going to try and get a head of this, see if it will affect your contracts."

"Ok," without another word, Ginny disappeared into the bowels of Petco. She could finally relax. She was in home. She made the familiar trek to the weight room slowly as if taking it all in one last time. She didn't expect anyone to be there. Mike had been skipping their morning work out since their argument about Amelia. She was so distracted, she didn't even notice him stretching on the floor.

"Morning Looney Tune, didn't expect to see you today."

She choked on her tongue which was somehow ten times larger than it was supposed to be. Her eyes burned. 'Why now?' She thought. 'Why does he have to be here now?'

He saw the panic in her eyes and jumped to his feet, which was in itself pretty amazing for a man with his knees. "Hey, Hey, you're ok. I was just teasing. You are fine. Baker, take a deep breath, dammit."

She sucked in air as if the thought had just occurred to her.

"Too much, Rookie, deep breathes. In… and out.. in… and out. That's it. Let's sit down." He lead her to a bench and sat down, pulling her down with him. Whatever he was expecting when he saw Ginny at the door, this was not it. He never thought he would see Ginny some completely lost.

He had woken up that morning and flipped on ESPN while e was making breakfast. Breakfast was quickly abandoned when he heard the story. It was so surprising he almost didn't believe it. He called Amelia, even though they had broken up, to get the story from the horses mouth. She was a mess. She said she hadn't known about it, but she was headed over to Ginny's place and would let him know. Then nothing, or rather, the next thing he knew Ginny Baker was hyperventilating against his shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No,"

"Ok,"

Silence wrapped around them and he focused on breathing steadily. He new she was matching hers to him. They used to do it all the time when they raced on the tread mills. Treadmills…

"You want to run?"

"Yea,"

"Ok, come on," he set his treadmill for a medium speed and took off a second later, she was running next to him. Five minutes later, she increased it to an all out run. His knee were screaming, but he kept running. Another minute and she hit the cool down. He thanked every god known to man.

"My dad, he loved baseball. He played in the minors, but he ad to give it up when we came along. He wanted my brother to play, but Will never really got into it. Then there was me. He used to tell people the story about me picking up a ball and throwing it across the yard when I was like 3, and then it was just him and me and baseball. My mom she tried to balance my life, but anytime I had to choose, I chose Baseball. We worked together everyday. I was… I was his second chance. The night I was scouted by the padre's we were driving home, and …"

Mike knew what happened. He had read a lot about her when she came up, but it was her story and he was going to let her tell it. No matter how long it took.

"We were in an accident. One minute he was there, we were going the minors, and the next he was gone. I woke up and there was this gaping hole in the windshield. He wasn't wearing a seatbelt. I found him, but he was already gone. I helped the guy who was driving the other car get out, and then I just sat there waiting for someone to come."

"I had trouble sleeping after that. Every time I closed my eyes I saw him lying there on the road all… you know. I went back to school and baseball, because that was what he would have wanted. Everything was fine. I was doing fine, or at least I thought I was, but something snapped. I woke up in the psych ward. My brother said I had been sleeping for 50 hours. He said I had lost it and broken every bat in the dugout. I still don't remember that part. They kept me for the mediatory 72 hours. I got some help, started sleeping. I never had any other problems. I thought I had put it all behind me."

"How old were you?"

"It was a month before my 17th birthday."

"Those mother-f…"

"It's ok," she sighed.

"It really isn't. It is a massive invasion of privacy. Not only is it medical records, but you were a minor. Someone is going to pay for this, big time."

"Yeah, me. I'll be out of the league as soon as they can find a loophole in my contract."

"Amelia wouldn't let that happen."

"Doesn't matter. Even if the Padre's keep me, I'll be a laughing stock. The poster girl for weak, hysterical women not belonging in the big leagues."

"Are you crazy?"

She just raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know what I mean. You went through a terrible thing. You dealt with it the only way you could. If anyone has a problem with that, they are an idiot."

"It's not going to change that the team will see me as damaged goods."

"I think you will find them surprisingly understanding."

She looked dubious.

"They'll rib ya, sure. That's their way of showing you that you are one of us, but they are good guys. They understand rough patches. It's the rest of the world that like to throw stones from their glass houses."

"You really think?"

"If not you just give'em crazy eyes. They will be too scared to say anything. You got a bad rap for being at the center and brawls and shit."

She laughed for the first time that day as the tightness in her chest finally eased up. The world knew her worst secret, but the people who mattered didn't mind, and the people who minded didn't matter.


End file.
